‘Hatha’ is perhaps the best known aspect of Yoga among Westerners. To most yoga students it is simply a difficult system of physical control involving the use of various yoga poses (Asanas) and the learning of specialized breathing techniques (Pranayama).

Few yoga students realize that the base upon which Hatha Yoga rests is a truism admitted by psychology and psychiatrists stating that if the mind can influence the body then the converse is equally true. The body influences the mind.

If we are nervous, depressed, or suffer from anxiety, our mental state is reflected in the function, control and appearance of our physical being. At a later stage (in chronic anxiety for instance) our habituated mental state may produce organic changes in the body resulting in such disablements as stomach ulcers, colitis, heart disease and perhaps even cancer.

Hatha Yoga re-establishes the mental stability of the individual and thus reverses the process which results in psychosomatic disease. This is accomplished by first teaching the student to acquire control of his body. Control of the body requires effort at controlling the mind, since no muscle is flexed, no nerve activated, or blood circulated unless under the control (voluntary or involuntary) of the mind.

The Sanskrit roots of ‘Hatha’ break down into ‘Ha’ and ‘Tha’. ‘Ha’ refers to the sun, a positive masculine symbol, while ‘Tha’ refers to the moon, a negative feminine symbol. Generally ‘Hatha’ is understood as indicating the union of the positive inbreath (’Ha’) with the negative outbreath (’tha’). Given a deeper interpretation we see that ‘Ha’ symbolizes the positive mind uniting with its negative vehicle ‘tha’, the body. Herein lies the clue to the true teaching of conjunction of opposites.

Hatha Yoga may be defined as the science of uniting and coordinating the physical and mental aspects of man’s being through consciously attempted discipline of the body.

asanas, breathing techniques, chronic anxiety, feminine symbol, hatha yoga, mental stability, pranayama, psychosomatic disease, yoga poses, yoga students